Enlightenment has 2 seperate meanings:
The Litteral; Enlightenment is the accumulation of knowledge and understanding about specific areas of study until you have a comprehensive
understanding of the totality of the subject.
The Spiritual/Philosophical; Enlightenment is the accumulation of knowledge and understanding of YOURSELF, until you are consciously aware of all of
your attributes, for good or for ill.
The second definition is the most prevalent usage, actually. It means that you are aware of your strengths and weaknesses to such an extent that they
no longer "Color" your perspective of reality.
For example, someone who thinks that they are perfect in all things, will never be able to learn anything new, and will never be able to understand
reality to any useful extent, because their own ego is getting in the way of a clear perspective of reality.
Enlightenment is basically nothing more than the ability to see yourself AS YOU ARE, as opposed to how you would LIKE, or WISH to see yourself.
It's about having no illusions about yourself, and how you see the world, removing the filters that your ignorance of self might put over your
perspective of reality.
So, in essence, Enlightenment is about Knowing yourself to such an extent that *YOU* don't interfere with your own understanding and comprehension of
You can tell that you are Enlightened, when you are able to consciously see past your own ingrained "Filters of Perspective"; when you are AWARE of
how you would subconsciously prefer to see the world, when you are aware of this filter, and yet you can still see past it, knowing that it is not the
Enlightenment is the Essence of Denying Ignorance, and the most important part, because it is the denial of the ignorance in yourself.
Once you are aware of these filters, and how they work, you can more easily see how it works in others, and speak truths to them that they ALREADY
KNOW, but cannot actually "See" because they are getting in the way of their own perceptions of reality.
For some people, enlightenment is the most difficult thing to achieve, because their entire sense of self revolves around false perspectives of
themselves, that exist only to satisfy their Ego's.
False beliefs that they require to make themselves feel better about themselves, by seeing attributes in themselves that are not actually there, or
seeing no flaws, where glaring flaws actually exist.
Knowing yourself, is about being Honest with yourself, and some people are not strong enough to be that honest about themselves, with themselves.
So they overcompensate, trying to convince everyone around them that they are perfect, superior, whatever... when in reality, they are actually
trying to convince themselves.
Impulses, and Instincts are the attributes of animals, genetic behaviours that were ingrained in our genetic structures, they were the things that
made life prosperous... but they cannot see more than "What Survives"
They cannot plan, they cannot weigh possibilities, because they know no possibilities.
The essence of being human, is to be intimately AWARE of our own instincts and impulsive drives, and to have the ability to cast them aside, should
they be detrimental to our goals, or our clear perspective of reality, or truth.
edit on 25-7-2011 by ErtaiNaGia because: added stuff